Great Brook Miniature Golf Return to Connecticut page
850 Gold Star Hwy
Groton, CT 06340
(860) 448-7313 Other
Activities: Driving Range
Cost: $7
Par: 42
2012 Review 2017 Update
Difficulty: 8 Difficulty: 6
Creativity: 7 Creativity: 4
Atmosphere: 8 Atmosphere: 3
This is by far one of the best adventure-style courses we’ve played, for a variety of reasons. First, everything is in great condition. The carpets are all in good shape and the landscaping is well maintained. The course makes good use of its natural surroundings as well, incorporating some large boulders that were obviously there before the course was built. The course also offers an interesting new piece of information at the beginning of holes. We’ve seen that it’s become popular to show a bird’s-eye view of the hole at the beginning of each hole, but this is the first course we’ve seen that actually tells you how far it is to the cup. Not that this really matters much, but when you sink that hole-in-one, you can tell people exactly how far, thus how great, a shot it really was.
The holes themselves make some of the best use of “rough” that we’ve seen. The thicker carpeting is strategically placed to make putting into it a definite penalty. Because it is so thick, the lip that is formed between the rough and the “fairway” throws an added variable into the calculation of where to hit the ball. The holes are for the most part very difficult, involving a lot of tough slopes and interesting angles. It’s extremely difficult to get a hole-in-one on 90% of the holes on this course. However, the course does do a good job of occasionally throwing in an easier hole so as not to leave you continuously frustrated.
There were only two small negative aspects to this course and they don’t affect game play at all. The first is a pet-peeve of ours. The course doesn’t include tax in the price of the game. Although it is clearly marked, we’d rather it just be included in the price for simplicity’s sake. The other area where this course lost minor points is that they use a generic scorecard. There is no course information on the scorecard and you need to fill in the pars of the holes yourself. Other than those two areas, the staff was friendly and we had a fun time at this course. It’s definitely a must play if you get a chance.
2017 update
What a difference 15 years makes. When we do a re-review of a course we try not to look at our original review so as not to bias our thinking and we’re glad we did here. While we think the course plays a little easier and is a little less creative (likely the result of us playing 100+ courses since the first time we reviewed this course), the biggest change was in the atmosphere and that has less to do without experience and more to do with the course’s upkeep. In short, where this course was a great adventure-style course it’s now a bit of a bit and we wouldn’t play there again.
The carpets are beat and torn in many places, especially around the cups. There’s a fair amount of moss on several of the holes and the bushes are overgrowing many spots where one would want to stand and putt. The signage, which was so nice originally, is now in disarray with it being very faded or broken on most of the holes. With the worn carpet it’s impossible to get the right speed and on many of the holes all of the balls end up in the same spot since there’s not much to keep them from rolling down a hill.
The prices are still fairly reasonable for the course so if you’re looking for a play to keep some younger kids interested for a bit they probably won’t mind much of the above and it won’t be that expensive, but it’s definitely not a course we would recommend any more.
Reviewed by Pat, Mandy, Will, Liz and Putt
Reviewed in 2002 & 2017
Course Pictures (click to enlarge)
2017 Pictures
See pictures of all 18 hole in our Flickr gallery.
Map
Cost: $5
Par: 42
Difficulty: 6
Creativity: 5
Atmosphere: 6
Another rereview. The course has been recarpeted & the landscaping cleaned up. However, the signs are still very faded & should be refurbished or removed. Also the course was buried in leaves. This was among several courses I played in late October when even the most well maintained courses in the state had some leaf debris, but this was extreme. However the price was very reasonable and the staff was nice so it has become a better little course that could be improved by investing in a leaf blower.
Reviewed by: Glenda R
Reviewed in: 2021
Cost: $5
Par: 42
Difficulty: 7
Creativity: 7
Atmosphere: 4
I found that the holes on this course played challengingly. I agree with the previous reviews about cosmetics - however I was told that the price is a $2 discount because of the condition & that new mats had been ordered & renovations were scheduled. I played here on 7/10/17 - maybe renovations are scheduled for offseason? I think this course would be worth one more chance if renovations are indeed done.
Reviewed by: Glenda R
Reviewed in: 2017